Sheet folding mechanism



1932- w. B MEGLITZ ET AL 1,381,814

SHEET FOLDING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 2. 1931 3 Shets-Sheet l 1932- w. B. MEGLITZ ET AL 1,381,314

SHEET FOLDING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 2, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 z/hwa L3 W/z a 'f W I Oct. 11,1932.

W. B. MEGLITZ ET AL SHEET FOLDING MECHANISM I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 2, 1951 Patented Oct. 11, 1932 s'ra'rss mam PATIENT, EE

WILLIAM i=3. runenrrz Ann MILTON 0. serum, or BERLIN, NEwHa /irsrnnn, Assrenons TO BRO'W N CQMEANY, 0F BERLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A CORPORA'IIQN OF e FOLDING MECHANISM Application filed September 2, 1931. Serial Ira-560,772.

T his invention relates to a folding mechanism adapted to fold a sheet of indefinite length back and forth into a series of plaits without pinching the sheet at any of the creases or unduly pressing the material of the which are commonly known as web stock.

Such sheets may be suspended in suitable nitrating acid for nitration. The sheet readily absorbs the acid and the nitration proceeds to completion uniformly over the sheet if there are no disturbing factors. Since, however, the chemical reaction of nitration is attended with the release of a certain amount of heat, and since the rate of the nitrating reaction varies with the temperature, it is necessary to maintain free circulation of the acid over the surfaces of the sheet to avoid local accumulation of heat on one or more portions of the sheet, withresulting rise in local. temperatures and uneven nitration. For this reason it is necessary that contact of the sheet with the sides of the container for the bath, or with other sheets, be avoided or at least reducedto areas of negligible size.

If plane sheets of web stock be suspended side by side in the nitrating bath, the tendency of the sheets to warp and bend in'the acid results in a liability of the sheets to come into contact over substantial areas with each other or with the container itself. Such contact areas confine the heat of chemical reaction locally and result in a burning of the contacting sheets over these areas due to excessive nitration caused by the local increase in temperature. In order to overcome this difficulty, the sheets may be plaited by folding back and forth, the plaits in each sheet suspended in the bath being arranged at an angle to the plaits'of the next adjacent sheets, so

that the areas of contact between'adjacent sheets are negligibly small and are insufiicient to prevent the free circulation of acid between the sheets to carry off heat generated by the nitrating reaction. s

.It is also important that the material of if the sheet itself be of substantial uniform density. If portions of thesheet arefcompressed in handling,the penetration ofthe nitratmg acid is not a'sthorough. or rapid as inthe more loosely felted portions of the sheet so that at such point in the sheet,ther

is liable to be in suflicientnitration. The present invention is more particularly for the purpose of providing apparatus capable of foldinga sheet of webstock orthe like into a series of plaits without unduly pinching or compressing the material of the sheet 7 so as to render it less absorbent in' localized areas. vided consisting essentially ofa pair of folding blades which have overlapping portions, the leading blade being moved clear of the. following blade and then swung around hehind the following blade so as to come up behind'it with a fresh fold in the sheet, the

following. blade thus becoming the leading blade. This action is repeated alternately by the two blades so that the sheet is successively folded back and forth without .7

pinching the folds and without compressing the sheet.

For a more complete understanding of the mechanism by which the invention is carried out, reference may be hadto the description thereof which follows and to the drawings, of wh1ch, I i Figure 1 IS a longitudinal section ofa machine embodying the invention taken. onthe Figure 2 is a plan v1ew of the portion of line 1-1 of Figure. 3.

the mechanism shown in Figure I.

F1gure'3 is an end elevation of a mechanism embodying. the invention.

Figure 4: is a portion of Figure 1 shown .90 f

way for the sheet which, as shown, may comprise a series oflower rods'or wires 10 and a series of upper rods or w res 11. The lower guide rodsv 10. may extend from a suitable For this purpose mechanism is 'pro- 55 Yes platform 12 through the machine to ter1ninate at a suitable discharge point 18. The upper guide wires 11 are substantially parallel to the lower wires so that a suitable guiding space is provided for thesheet as it passes through the machine. I A pair of folding blades including a lower blade 14 and an upper blade 15 are mounted centrally in the machine and extend thereacross from one a side to the other. These blades are automatically operated by mechanismhereinafter described so that each blade moves alternately from a leading position to affoll'owing position, the lower blade being withdrawn downwardly until its overlapping portionclears the upper blade, then being swungrearwardly and: upwardly into a position'behind. the upper blade, thus forming air additional fold in the sheet'which is fed across'the platform 12. Similarly, the upper blade'is then moved over and behind the low- 'er blade; Since the overlapping portions of the blades 14 and 15 project beyond the adjacent guide rods Hand 12 into the imid ing channel defined by these rods, the blades are suitably notched to receive these guide rods.

' The guide channel, thefolding blades, and the mechanism for operating the folding blades are all carried on a suitable frame 20. s This frame may include a platform 21 to support an electric motor 22, belt pulley, or other driving means. The motor is connected. by suitable reducing gearing 23 to a sprocket wheel 24'which is mounted on a shaft 25; Mounted on the shaft 25 is a pair of disks 26, 26 which are similar in structure, each of these-disks having a suitable cam slot'2 7 therein. As shown in Figure 1, this slot may consist of a channelLin the face of eachdisk the channelbeing circular for about 270 and being reentrant, as at 28, through the remainingQQ". A cam follower 80, which may be a suitable roller, rides withi'n 'each slot 27', each of the cam followers 30 being mounted. on a horizontal bar 31 which is reciprocable in suitable bearings carried by the frame 20.. Mounted on each bar 31 is a' vertical cross-head 32 which is grooved as at 33 to receive a roller 34 for reciprocation therein. Each roller 34, as indicated in FigureB, ,is mounted at the lower end of an arm35 which extends downwardly from a carrier 36, the carrier being adapted to'rockon the axis of a pin 87 which pro ects through a vertical slot in a frame member 38,

theend of" the pin 37. being provided with a roller 39 which rides in a cam slot 40. The

of the carriers 36, The blade 14 is provided with a pair of hinged members 43 which are meshing respectively with a pair of idle gears 46 which, in turn, mesh with horizontal gears 47 mounted on vertical shafts 48 at their lower ends. On the upper ends of these shafts are respectively mounted a pair of gears 51. The gears 51 mesh wlth idlegears 52 Which, in turn, mesh with a pair of gears 53 mounted on a shaft 54. The shaft 54 carries a pair of cam disks 55 which are identical in structure with the canidisks 26, hereinbeforedescribed. The disks 55 are provided, with cam grooves 56 identical with the grooves 27. Cam followers 57 ride in thegrooves 56 and. are mounted on horizontal reciprocating bars 58. These bars each have a centralcross-head 60 which, is slotted at 61, suitable rollers 62tbein g vertically reciprocable in these slots. The rollers 62 are mounted on a pair of carriers 6"; similar to the carriers 36, the upper blade 15having-a pair of hinged members 64which are connected to th carrier 63 as by hinged pins 65, the structure being substantially ident cal with the supporting members for the lower blade 14, hereinbefore describedin detail. The upper carriers 63 are mounted for rocking motion about the axis ofa pin which projects through a vertical slot in the frame member 38, the. remote end-ofthe pin. 70 having roller 71- which rides in a cam slot 72 similar to thecam slot4Q. On

each ofthe shafts 48s is mounted a vertical camw drum 73, each drum having aslot 40 and a slot 72 in, its cylindrical wall. Each of these cam slots, extends horizontally around theperiphery of the drum for about, 180. Through 90 each slot swingstoward theadjac'ent end of, the drum, and then back through the remaining9O to itshorizontal portion, as indicated inFigure4.

The blades 14,-and 15 eachpresent a blunt edge to the sheet. Th-esebladesmay also carry auxiliary pricking blades 81 having sharp serrated edges 82. to pierce the sheet at the folds in series ofsmallcuts which facilitate creasing the sheet: with. a minimum of creasing pressure.- The blades8l are slid.- ably mounted in slots in. the body portions of the blades 14 and 15 respectively. Secured to the backedge of each of the blades 81 are a pair of bolts 83 which projectthrough; suitable holes 84 in the carriers 36 and.63. The 2 holes 84 are large enough to contain. acornpression spring 85around eachbelt. These springs tend to retract the pricking blades 81 and to maintain the serrated edges 82 in inoperative position back of the blunt edges 80. To render the blades 81 operative the blades 14 and 15 are notched as at 86 to receive levers 87 which are pivoted by pins 88 to ears 89 projecting from the blades 14 and 15. These levers project out from the carriers 36 and 63 and reciprocate therewith. In the path ofmotion of the free ends of these levers are trip-pins 90 whichare mounted on brackets 91 secured to the main frame. blade 14 or 15 approaches theend of its stroke, the corresponding levers 87 strike their trippins 90 and rock on their pivots 88, projecting the pricking blade 81 so, that its serrated cutting edge 82 projects beyond the adjacent blunt edge of the blade 14 or 15.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: Starting with thelower blade 14 in the leading position, as shown in Figure 1, the rotation of the cam drums 73 results in a downward movement of the blade 14 as the cam follower 39 rides into the descending portion of the cam slot 40. This moves the blade 14 entirely clear of the blade- 15:. When the blade reaches its lowermost point, the

reentrant portion 28 of the cam slot 27 in each cam disk 26 moves the horizontal bars 31 toward the right.

This carries the rollers 34 to the right, since these rollers always ride in the grooves 33. The motion of the rollers 34 rocks the carriers 36 and hence the blade 14 on the pins 37 as an axis, this rocking movement being indicated in dotted lines in Figure 4. As soon as the bars 31 reach their extreme position toward the right, they are immediately reciprocated back again totheir nor mal postion, the back and forth motion being completed during a quarter turn of the cam disk 26. During this single reciprocation of the bars 31 to the right and back again to the left, the rollers 39 ride in the ascending portions of the cam slots 40 which are shaped in sucha manner that the rollers 34 describe a semi-circle, as indicated in Figure-4. This movement swings the upper edge of the blade 14 around behind the blade 15 so that a bi-ght of the sheet is picked up behind the blade 15 and moved up against the rear face of the blade 15. During the final portion of this movement, the levers 87 which are mounted on the blade 14 engage their trippins 90 and force the lower pricking blade 81 upwardly to prick a line of short cuts in the sheet. blade is completed, the upper blade is pressed slightly forward against its spring 41 to a position equivalent to that in which the blade 14 is shown in Figure 4. The motion described for the blade 14 is now duplicated by the blade 15 as actuated by the several cam followers working in the cam slots 56 and 72. As the motion of this blade is identical with When the 5 As this motion of the lower that of the blade 14,:the idetailed description I thereof is not repeatedherein. The prick lllg: blades 81 are not essential to theopera; tion of the apparatus, and may be omitted if desired. 7 t

' The folds'of the sheet are thus made in such a manner that the creases arenot' which the folding blades may push newly formed folds. I As shown the guiding channel 'may then bend downwardly to its charge end- 13. -Weclaimz a 1. Mechanism of the class described com? prising a pair of blades having overlapping portions, and meansfor moving said blades alternately *to move the leading bladepcl ear of the otherblade and to bring it fagainstthe rear fac'eofs aid other blade. 3 2. Mechanism of the class-described comprising spaced guiding members for folded paper, a pair of bladeshav'ing portions projecting substantially across the space be tween said members from opposite directions, and means alternately moving said blades to withdraw the leading 7 blade 'clear of the other and to projectsaid withdrawn blade" across said space behind said other blade.

3. Sheet folding mechanism comprisinga pair of blades having overlapping portions, and means for alternately moving said blades from theleading position to the following position, said means including mechanism for reciprocating each blade alternately in its own plane to clear the other blade and then to move back into overlapping relation, and mechanism for rocking each blade rearwardly when moved clear of the other. I

4. Sheet folding mechanism comprising spaced guides for a folded" sheet, a pair of blades projecting substantially across the space between said guides from opposite directionsv and overlapping within said space, means for alternately withdrawing from said space each blade when it is leading and for reinserting said blade in said space behindthe other blade, said means including a reciprocable slide, a cross-head mounted on said slide and provided with a guide slot perpendicular to said slide, a carrier for the blade having a a follower riding in said slot and a second follower spaced from the first, means acting on said second follower to reciprocate said blade substantially in its plane and means for reciprocating said slide to rock said blade.

5. Sheet folding mechanism comprising a pair of blades having overlapping portions, means for withdrawing the leading blade to clear the other blade and for swinging said leading blade in behind the other blade whereby the blades again overlap with said other blade leading, said. means including a blade carrier pivotally mounted to rock said blade and reciprocable substantially inthe lane of the blade, cam'means for reoiprocatmg said blade carrier, other cam means for rock1ngsa1d carrier, and common driv ng means for both said cam means.

6. Sheet folding mechanism comprising a V pair of blades having overlapping portions,

means for withdrawing the leading blade to clearthe other blade and for swinging said leading blade, in behind said other blade whereby the blades again overlap with said other blade leading, said'means including a blade carrier on which the blade is mounted portions, ternately the other for limited rocking movement, a spring on said carrier pressing said blade rearwardly,

cam means for reciprocatingsaid carrier and blade substantially in the plane of the blade, other cam means for rocking said carrier and blade, and common driving means for both said cam means:

7. Sheet folding mechanism comprising a pair of'folding blades having overlapping to move the leading'blade clear of blade and to bring it against the rear face of said other blade, an auxiliary pricking blade carried by each of said folding blades and means for operating each said pricking blade when its respective folding blade is completing a folding movement.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures. a WILLIAM B. MEGLITZ.

MILTON O. SCHUR.

means for moving said blades al- 

